Monte Cristo Casserole

It's been precisely eleventy two years since I've had a Monte Cristo Sandwich.  I have no idea why.  OK.  Scratch that.  I know why.  Cause we rarely go out and when we do, they don't have Monte Cristo on the menu.  Oh and Monte Cristos are usually fried, and we've already established my dislike and fear of molten oil.  All these things have left me sadly Monte Cristo-less for ages and ages.  At least I was until I found this recipe for monte cristo casserole over at Real Mom Kitchen.

This is what the casserole looks like right out of the oven.

And here it is all plated up with powdered sugar and strawberry sauce. 

Now the original recipe calls for two 12.5 oz boxes of French Toast.  I looked at my grocery store and, on sale, a 12.5oz box contains only 6 slices for $2.  Now I can make 12 slices of French Toast from scratch for less than $1 total.  $1 and a little bit of my time seemed a whole lot better to me than spending $4 and no time.

So I did a little advance planning and made a double recipe of French Toast using this recipe for waffled French Toast. (Just cook the bread on a skillet instead of in the waffle maker.)  Doubling the recipe yielded me 15 slices. I made the French Toast one day, let it cool on racks, and then stuck 12 slices in a large zip bag and stored it in the freezer. This left me with 3 extra slices which I greedily ate for breakfast the next day. I took the French toast out of the freezer the morning I planned on making this hotdish, and let them thaw all day in the fridge. When as I was preparing dinner, I popped them in the toaster to get nice and crispy.

I used leftover ham that I had frozen from Easter.  The turkey was a bit trickier.  I looked in the deli and the turkey there was crazy expensive.  The brand of lunch meat Mrblocko usually eats was loads cheaper so I used some of that instead.  I grabbed a stack of slices and chopped them into cubes.  This was easy as the slices really like to stick together.

I also used the last of my failed strawberry freezer jam that didn't set up, instead of the frozen strawberry and jam topping mixture.  This turned out perfect, and we're finally done with all that failed jam! Hooray! 

Although this took a bit of advance planning, I felt it was worth it.  Even the leftovers were good.  So good, in fact, that we fought over who got to eat the last slice.  I didn't attempt to reheat the casserole as it tasted so great, cold, from the fridge.

Monte Cristo Casserole from Real Mom Kitchen
2 packages (12.5 ounces each) frozen French toast slices, thawed (or 12 slices if you're going to make your own)
1 cup milk
6 eggs
1 cup of thick sliced deli baked ham, diced
1 cup thick sliced deli roast turkey, diced
8 ounces or 2 cups shredded Swiss cheese
1/4 cup fresh chopped parsley
powdered sugar
24 oz container of frozen strawberries slices, thawed and drained
1/2 cup strawberry jam or ice cream topping (I used my homemade freezer jam and omitted the frozen strawberries)

Preheat oven to 375. Cut the slices of thawed French toast into 3/4 inch cubes. In a bowl, whisk milk and eggs. In a large bowl, place half French toast cubes. Pour half of the egg mixture over cubes and toss gently with a spoon or spatula. Toss until cubes are well coated.

Place the coated French toast cubes in a 9 x 13 baking dish that has been sprayed with non-stick spray.Next layer half the ham, turkey, parsley and cheese on the coated French toast cubes.

Using the same large bowl, toss the remaining French toast cube and egg mixture to coat. Place coated French toast cubes in an even layer in the baking dish followed by layers of remaining ham, turkey, parsley, and cheese.

While the casserole bakes, combine sliced strawberries with jam/ice cream topping. Bake 30-35 minutes or until golden brown and set in center. Remove to cooling rack; cool 10 minutes.

Cut into 8-12 squares. Sprinkle the top of each square with a dusting of powdered sugar followed by a spoonful of the strawberry mixture.

Toad in the Hole

So this year we had a much more subdued St. Patrick's Day than last year. We kept it very low key. I didn't even make anything Irish.

 What?!

 Nope. I made something English instead. (I'm not a speck of Irish so I can't get my shamrock card taken away.) I made Toad in the Hole.

Why is this dish called Toad in the Hole?  Donno.  Seriously.  Not even the internets could tell me.  Hey, if the internets don't know, then it must be a mystery.

I used the recipe for toad in the hole from Jammy Chicken.  As you can see, the toad in the hole just didn't poof up like it was supposed to.  I don't know if this was from the recipe or the fact that I needed to use a smaller cooking vessel.

Whatever the cause of the problem, the dish still tasted good.  Both Mrblocko and Blockette LOVED it.  They even enjoyed the leftovers.  Me?  Well I had a hard time getting over the fact that it didn't turn out how it was supposed to.  I think that was clouding my judgement.

Toad in the Hole is traditionally served with Brown or onion gravy.  I made Mo'niques Brown Gravy from GMA. 

Blockette never eats gravy. She makes a stinky crinkled up face when I even suggest she try some on her mashed potatoes.  For some reason she didn't hesitate to try this gravy.  And guess what?  She loved it!  Maybe this means she will eat some at Thanksgiving?  I won't hold my breath!

Toad-in-the-hole from Jammy Chicken
3 tablespoons olive oil
1 pound thick sausage
2 eggs
3/4 cup milk
1 1/4 cup all-purpose flour
1 tablespoon grainy mustard
1/2 tablespoon dried thyme
1 teaspoon salt

Preheat the oven to 400 F. Find a heavy baking dish (ceramic, metal) that the sausages fit into with some clearance on all sides of every sausage. The more space the more crispy Yorkshire pudding you'll get. However, you don't want the sausages to be lost in a giant pan. Aim for cozy over crowded.

Pour the oil in a baking dish and tilt to coat bottom. Add sausage and toss well to coat. Bake in hot oven 10 min.

Prepare batter. Put remaining ingredients in a blender, and blend til smooth. Stop to scrape down  sides after a minute to make sure all flour is incorporated.

Take pan with sausage out of oven and pour batter over and around sausage. Return to oven and bake  30 min, til batter puffed and golden.  Serve with Brown or onion gravy.

M'onique's Brown Gravy from GMA
1 T olive oil
2 small Spanish onions, sliced or diced
5 T unsalted butter
3 Tall-purpose flour
1 t fresh rosemary, chopped
1 t fresh thyme, chopped
1 t garlic, chopped
2 c chicken stock or water
Salt and pepper

Heat oil over med and sauté onions 10-15 min, til well browned. (For lighter gravy, cook 8 min.) Add butter. Once butter melted, whisk in flour.  Cook 3-5 min til toasted to a nice deep brown. Add herbs and garlic.  Slowly whisk in stock and simmer over medium til gravy thickens. Season with salt and pepper.

Breakfast Sandwich Casserole

I had really high hopes for this breakfast sandwich casserole from Sisters' Stuff. A make-it-the-night-before breakfast casserole...that's like an egg sandwich, and all I have to do in the morning is stick it in the oven? Yeah, how could that not be awesome? I guess I built it up in my mind too much as the end result was a bit of a let down.

Not that it wasn't good. It was. I just had it in my brain that it was going to be this awesome uber breakfast. My loving husband told me that it was just fine that the breakfast wasn't "Awesome" and that it was OK for food to just be OK. Then he went on to tell me that I can't be like Wolfgang Puck all the time. That made me chuckle, 'cause what he doesn't realize is that I don't even care for Wolfgang Puck all that much. (Unless it's pastry, cheese, chocolate or bread...French cuisine is not my thang.)

I think the biggest bummer of this dish, aside from the fact that it stuck to the pan like nobody's business, was that the bread on the bottom was soggy. I hates me some soggy bread. It's like eating a wet sponge.  (Not that I've ever eaten a wet sponge before, only dry ones.)

See all those sticky bits.  Ugh what a pain to clean...that's why Mrblocko is in charge of the dishes!

The leftovers were surprisingly less soggy than the ones freshly cooked.  To reheat the leftover sandwiches I placed them "soggy" side up on a cookie sheet and stuck them in the oven as it was preheating to 350F.  Once the oven got up to 350F,  I cooked them for another 10 min.  I think this, along with sitting in the fridge for 24 hours, drew a lot of the moisture out of the sandwiches.

Breakfast Casserole from Sisters Stuff (My changes are in blue.)
12 slices of bread (Texas toast would be best.  Might eliminate some of that soggy bread on the bottom that you get with regular sandwich bread.)
18 oz of grated cheese (I only used about 8oz of cheese and it was plenty cheesy)
1 pound of your favorite meat (I used half a package of  bacon that had been fried up ahead of time and diced ham.  I have no idea if it was a pound of meat.  Probably closer to 3/4 of a pound.)
Veggies (I used 3 medium onions that had been caramelized along with 3 cloves of minced garlic.)
8-10 Eggs (I used 10 eggs, they probably could have used a splash of milk along with them)
I also added a few dashes of hot sauce in the egg mixture.  Some mustard would be good too.
Salt and Pepper
Butter

Generously, butter all slices of bread. (I don't think I slathered on enough butter.) Place 6 slices of bread, buttered side down. Then top with grated cheese, meat and veggies. Then place the other 6 slices of bread, buttered side up on the top. Beat 8-10 eggs in a bowl, with salt and pepper. Pour the eggs over the whole casserole...make sure to get all the bread covered with eggs. Cover the pan in foil and refrigerate over night. Bake at 350 for 1 hour with the foil on, then 30 min without.

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding with Buttermilk Syrup

I had amassed enough leftover bread bits in my freezer that I felt it was time to make another bread pudding. This time I made caramel apple bread pudding from Our Best Bites.  This dish is absolutely sinful.  It probably should have been served for dessert but as I am a horrible/wonderful mother, I made it for dinner one night.  (Hey.  Don't judge.  It has apples in it.  Apples are healthy.)

I made the changes that a commenter on the original post from Our Best Bites suggested.  I used 5 whole eggs instead of 4 whole eggs and 3 yolks.  I also used 3 cups of skim milk instead of the milk and cream combo.  I also used 3 heaping cups of apples, so it was probably more like 4 cups of apples.  See how much healthier I made this dish!

What really sets this bread pudding over the top, above all other bread puddings, is the Buttermilk Syrup.  There is a link on the Our Best Bites page to their version of Buttermilk syrup, but I used the recipe for buttermilk syrup from Creations by Kara.  The Creations by Kara version uses a white and brown sugar combination, while the Our Best Bites version uses white and Corn syrup.  The CbK version only needs 1/4 cup of butter while the OBB one uses a whole stick.  Oh, and the CbK recipe makes nearly double that of the OBB.  So I chose the OBB one.  Besides, I was all out of corn syrup.

Now I want to talk about that syrup for a second.  When they say use a large pot.  For pity's sake, use one.  Do you see the dirtied up marks that go above the rivets in the picture above?  That is how much the syrup is going to foam up when you add the baking soda.  Please err on the side of caution.  You don't want molten syrup all over your stove, counter, floor or anything really.  You have been warned!

This final picture is of the bread pudding topped with the Buttermilk syrup. So yummy!  We wound up having extra syrup.  It stores very nicely in the freezer.  The syrup doesn't really freeze, but the butter does float to the top.  A few minutes in the microwave, and a good stir brings everything back together again.  Blockette frequently requests this syrup on pancakes/waffle instead of the regular fake maple stuff.  Dare I say she even likes it better than the real live maple tree "blood".

Caramel Apple Bread Pudding from Our Best Bites
5-6 c. stale French bread cubes (about 1/2 of a standard loaf cut into 1″ cubes)
3 c. apples, peeled and chopped into small pieces
4 eggs
3 egg yolks
1 1/2 c. milk
1 1/2 c. heavy cream
3/4 c. brown sugar
1/4 c. sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
1 tsp. vanilla extract
1 tsp. almond extract
2 tsp. pumpkin or apple pie seasoning
1 Tbsp. butter, chopped
1 recipe Buttermilk Syrup

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease or spray a 9×13″ baking dish with shortening or non-stick cooking spray. In a large bowl, toss together the bread cubes and the apple pieces. Transfer to the baking dish. In the same large bowl, whisk remaining ingredients except for the butter. When combined, continue to whisk while pouring over bread/apple mix (just to make sure the spices are evently distributed). Gently combine the bread and egg mixture, making sure each piece of bread is soaking in part of the egg and milk mixture. Allow to stand for at least 15 minutes (longer, if you can; you could even do this the night before, cover it tightly, and then bake it in the morning). When egg/milk mix mostly soaked into bread, dab butter over bread and place baking dish, bake 40-50 min til center is set but not dry or burned. Remove from oven and allow to stand for 5 min.


Buttermilk Caramel Syrup from Creations by Kara
1 1/2 cups buttermilk
1 cup sugar
1 cup brown sugar
1/2 cup butter*
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp vanilla

In a large saucepan, bring buttermilk, sugars, and butter to a boil over medium heat. Remove from heat and stir in soda and vanilla. It will bubble up a lot. Hopefully you used a large saucepan like I told you. :) As it cools, the bubbles will go away.
*Notes: The original recipe calls for 1/2 cup butter. I cut back to 1/4 c.

Seafood Bread Pudding

This is the last of the bread puddings, and by far the best! After about 20 minutes of baking, the aroma that filled the house was absolutely mouth watering. Blockette even came up to me and said, "Mommy, what smells sooooooo good?" I replied, "Dinner!"
I had to make a few substitutions to use what I had on hand. I used imitation crab meat, 1/2 Tablespoon each dried parsley and tarragon, A mix of white, wheat and rye bread cubes, and all milk (no cream). I also roasted the red pepper under the broiler to bring out more caramelized goodness.

You really know the recipe is good when you can swap out milk for cream and have the whole family still rant and rave about how good the meal is.

The only bad part about this bread pudding is that it doesn't taste nearly as good the second time around. The leftovers were still good, but just not AS good. Next time, unless I'm making this for company, I'll only make a half batch.

Head over to Tasty Kitchen to find the recipe for: crab and fontina cheese bread pudding .
4 Tablespoons Butter
1-½ cup Lump Crab Meat, Picked Over
2 cups Fontina Cheese (shredded)
1 Tablespoon Lemon Juice
2 Tablespoons Chopped Fresh Herbs (like Chives, Parsley And/or Tarragon)
8 cups Day Old Italian Bread, Cubed Into 1" Pieces
6 whole Eggs
1 cup Milk
1 cup Heavy Cream
½ cups Red Pepper, Diced And Seeded
¼ cups Celery, Diced
1 whole Shallot, Diced
1 clove Garlic

Grease a medium gratin dish with two tablespoons of butter. In a pan, combine the other two tablespoons of butter with red pepper, shallot, celery and garlic, and season with salt and pepper. Cook over medium heat until soft and fragrant. Allow vegetable mixture to cool, and combine with the crabmeat, lemon juice, and herb mixture. In a separate bowl, whisk eggs, and combine with milk and heavy cream.

Place a layer of bread cubes, then a layer of the crab mixture, and sprinkle with fontina cheese. Repeat until all of your ingredients are used, and finish with a final sprinkle of fontina cheese. Pour egg mixture over the entire gratin dish. You can do this the night before, but let the egg mixture soak into the bread mixture for at least 10 minutes before putting it into a preheated 350F oven. Bake for 45-55 minutes until set, puffed and golden brown. Serve immediately.

Pumpkin Pie Bread Pudding

Yes! More bread pudding. There was a LOT of leftover bread. This Bread Pudding is a sweeter version than the Sausage Pudding from the other day. It tastes a lot like French Toast, with the added benefit of a vegetable. Hooray for pumpkin puree! Is there anything that you can't be snuck into?I took inspiration from two sources for this recipe:
1.) pumpkin pie bread pudding from barefoot kitchen witch

2.)pumpkin bread pudding from bakedbree.com

I just sort of smashed the 2 recipes together. The biggest change was that I cooked it at a higher temp. I hate really gummy bread pudding. If you are looking for a dish that is going to be crispy on top, this is not it. Even in reheating the leftovers I couldn't get a toasted crouton like top. The pudding goes from soft to burnt. There is no in between.

Blockette was happy. She prefers the softer version of bread pudding. She was happy that there were no crunchy bits on top. Even though I like the toastier versions of bread pudding, this recipe was really delicious. If you have a major sweet tooth you could add syrup. It is completely unnecessary though. The dish is tasty enough to stand on its own.

Here's what I did:

Pumpkin Bread pudding

8 cups of cubed bread (I used a combo of white, wheat and cinnamon raisin because that's what I had on hand. Go crazy and use whatever floats your boat.)

1/2 c brown sugar

1/4 c maple syrup (I used the fake stuff and it tasted fine)

4 eggs

2 c milk

1 15 oz can of pumpkin puree

1/2 T vanilla

2 tsp pumpkin pie spice

1/4 tsp salt

1 c chopped toasted pecans

topping:

2 T sugar

2 T turbinado sugar (I don't know that this is necessary, but it does crystallize nicely on the top of the finished dish. I only had some because I like to "liberate" packets from places that sell coffee.)

1 T cinnamon

Preheat your oven to 375. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Stir 2 sugars and cinnamon in a small bowl to make the topping. Set this aside. In a large bowl combine brown sugar, syrup and eggs. Add milk, pumpkin, vanilla, spice and salt. Combine. Add bread to the goo and stir to coat. Let the bread soak up the goodness for about 15 min or so. Fold in the toasted pecans. (Mrblocko says "Raisins would be a tasty addition to this dish." Personally, I only like raisins in savory dishes, oatmeal cookies, or by themselves. I don't even like them in cinnamon bread. If you do, feel free to add a cup of your favorite shriveled grape!) Pour the bread-y mixture into the prepared dish. Sprinkle the topping mixture evenly over the top. Bake for about 40-60 min until a knife inserted in the center comes out clean. Let cool slightly before serving so you don't burn the roof of your mouth for heaven's sake!

Sausage and Onion Bread Pudding

I mentioned here that I had been in charge of preparing the bread for communion on World Communion Sunday. The way our church does it, you freeze the bread so it doesn't get mangled, cut off the crusts, then cube the bread into individual bite size portions. Well with 3 loaves of sliced bread, that is a lot of crusts, not to mention the stuff that is left over from the services. I hate to just throw all that stuff away. It seems like such a waste.

Handy dandy Internet to the rescue! I did a search on Bread pudding and came up with some tasty ideas from Radishes and Rhubarb, The stone soup , cooking on the side, and tasty kitchen Blogs. I took ideas from all of them and came up with this nummy little concoction below.

(Just so you know, the deep dark bits are from the pumpernickel bread, and not because I burned it!)

I also thought I should mention that I realize that World Communion Sunday was waaaay back in the beginning of October. I thought I would wait until I used up all the leftover bread and post all the bread puddings at the same time. Bread pudding makes a lot of food for just three people and I knew that if I made more than one a month we would get very sick of it.

Without further ado...here is my version of this breakfast-y casserole.

Sausage and Onion Bread Pudding
1lb bulk breakfast sausage
3 medium onions
6 cups of cubed stale bread
2 cups of milk (I used 1 c skim milk and 1 c evaporated milk because I had it leftover from another meal)
6 eggs
1/2 tsp salt
2 tsp dry powdered mustard
2 cups of miscellaneous cheese (I had bits of Swiss, mozzarella, sharp cheddar, Colby and pepper jack that I used up to make the 2 cups...use what you have!)

Preheat your oven to 375 F. Spray a 9x13 baking dish with cooking spray. Brown your sausage in a large skillet. While the sausage is cooking thinly slice the onion into half moons. Remove the sausage from the pan and drain the fat. In the sausage grease, caramelize the sliced onions. We like ours almost burnt, most people like their onions a light tan. Do whatever floats your boat! In a separate bowl combine the milk, eggs, salt, and mustard. Layer half the bread on the bottom of the prepared baking dish, followed by half the cheese, half the sausage and half the onions. Repeat with the remaining bread, cheese, sausage and onions. Pour the custard mixture evenly over the entire casserole. Bake uncovered for 60 minutes until the bread has absorbed the custard and the cheese is melty.